The diversification of the Cabo Verdean economy is high on the list of priorities for the archipelago’s government, which intends to attract more investment, especially for infrastructure, to improve the business environment and to open up to emerging economies, Portuguese trade and investment promotion agency AICEP Portugal Global said recently.

The total international assets of Macau’s banking sector totalled 1.286 billion patacas (US$159.7 billion) at the end of 2017, up 2.4% from the previous quarter and 9.9% on year, according to the Macau Monetary Authority (AMCM).

Partex Oil and Gas (Holdings) Corporation will be sold to the CEFC China Energy group, confirmed António Costa Silva, the chairman of the oil company of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, speaking to Portuguese daily newspaper Público.

The Angolan government is convinced that the country will achieve a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 4.9% in 2018, the Angolan minister of State and Economic and Social Development, Manuel Nunes Júnior said on Wednesday in Luanda.

Chazeiras de Moçambique, one of Mozambique’s leading tea producers, plans to export 1,350 tons of tea in the current production campaign, an increase of 5.6% compared to the 1,278 tons exported in 2017, a company representative told daily newspaper Diário de Moçambique.

A group of business people from Brazil linked to the agricultural sector are in Angola on a business prospecting visit to the provinces of Kwanza Norte and Moxico, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Mozambique’s economy recorded growth of 3.7% in 2017, the Council of Ministers spokeswoman, Ana Comoana, said in Maputo on Tuesday, restating figures released last Thursday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

Economic and productive activity in Angola is now exclusively reserved for the private business sector, and the state has been limited to promoting economic growth, said the Minister of Economy and Planning, Pedro Luís da Fonseca.

According to the National Bank of Angola (BNA), requests to buy foreign currency in Angola should only be submitted to commercial banks, with the exception of large importers of medicines and/or food products who are still allowed to present them to the ministries of health and trade, respectively.

The countries and international organisations that previously supported Mozambique will continue to stay out of the country in 2018, said consulting firm BMI Research, adding that public investment will remain low in the near future due to a lack of international support.

The Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Dam (HCB) has launched a public tender to hire of the entity that will lead the process of selling a 7.5% stake in the company’s share capital through the Mozambique Stock Exchange (BVM), HCB said in a statement posted on its website.

The submarine fibre-optic telecommunication cable, which will connect Angola to South America, arrived this month at the port of Pecém, in Fortaleza, Brazil, some 6,200 kilometres from Angola, Angola Cables said.

The Cape Verdean government ratified the visa waiver agreement on ordinary passports between the Cape Verdean and Mozambican governments, adopted in Maputo on 21 February 2014, said the Minister of State and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Fernando Elísio Freire.

Brazil and Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) will be two of the first countries visited by the new President of Angola, João Lourenço, in a clear sign of the importance of strategic relations with both Portuguese-speaking countries, particularly in economic terms.

The Secretary-General of Forum Macau, Xu Yingzhen, announced in Beijing that the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the institution, in 2003 following a Chinese initiative joined by the Portuguese-speaking countries, would be celebrated in Macau this year.

Japan’s TOA Corporation has been hired to conduct the second phase of the Namibe port modernisation project, in Angola, and work is scheduled to begin in March, the Transport Ministry said in a statement released on Thursday in Luanda.

The exemption agreement on ordinary visas between Angola and Mozambique is to come into effect on 15 February, the spokeswoman for the Mozambican National Migration Service, Cira Fernandes announced on Thursday in Maputo.

Two walls of floor-to-ceiling crenulated windows afford spectacular views of the shining skyscrapers of Hong Kong, overlooking the home and office of Chief Executive Carrie Lam on one side and the HSBC building on the other.

Airlines from the Asia-Pacific region are expected to order 3,010 new aircraft in the segment up to 150 seats in the next 20 years, which represents 29% of world demand in the period, according to the market forecast released on Wednesday by Embraer Commercial Aviation at the Singapore Air Festival.

Mozambique’s economic growth will depend on the country’s economic diversification and demographic transformation in the medium term, the World Bank director for Mozambique, Mark Lundell said on Wednesday in Maputo.

The Angolan government has approved a draft law that gives overseas investors 180 days to repatriate their capital without any criminal or legal consequences, said the governor of the National Bank of Angola at the end of a Council of Ministers meeting on Wednesday in Luanda.

Embraer moved closer to another contract for its KC-390 multimission transport aircraft on Tuesday, signing a letter of intent with aviation services company SkyTech for up to six aircraft, the company announced.

The Zhongshan, Zhuhai and Macau Food and Drink Guide published and distributed in 2017 will have an English-language version this year to attract international visitors to multi-destination itineraries in the three cities, according to the Macau Government Tourism Office.

Chinese group CEE Power wants to expand its activity in Brazil’s electricity sector, where it won a concession in 2016 to build transmission lines, by building an equipment manufacturing plant, said the commercial director of Ceepower Brazil Holding Ltda.

Cabo Verde-China business forum is schedule to be held on 23 February in Mindelo, a port city on the Cape Verdean island of São Vicente, jointly organised by the Cape Verde-China Friendship Association (Amicachi) and the Barlavento Chamber of Commerce (CCB) the CCB said in a statement.

The World Bank will pay out US$70 million to finance Angola’s Local Development Project (PDL), under an agreement signed on Tuesday in Luanda by Finance Minister Archer Mangueira and the interim World Bank representative, Oliver Godron.

Mozambique will stop paying customs duties on exports to the European Union (EU) after joining the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and southern African countries on Monday, 5 February, the European Commission said.

The NovEnergia Fund, which owns the Gulbenkian and Oriente foundations, among other entities, will be phased out and its assets will be sold to an unidentified Chinese investor, Portuguese daily newspaper Público reported recently.

The Cape Verdean government will introduce new rules into existing legislation to strengthen the requirement for companies, especially public companies, to publish their accounts, said Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva in Praia on Friday.

Macau International Airport (CAM) expects traffic of 7.38 million passengers, 39,000 tons of cargo and 60,000 aircraft movements this year, in addition to completing the northern extension of the terminal, according to information released last week.

Timor-Leste (East Timor) and Australia are due to sign the new maritime border treaty between the two countries on 6 March, but the model of exploration of the Greater Sunrise oil fields may not be resolved by that date, Portuguese news agency Lusa reported, citing sources familiar with the process.

Macau’s gross casino revenue in January amounted to 26.26 billion patacas (US$3.286 billion), an increase of 36.4% over the January 2017 revenue of 19.25 billion patacas, said the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ).

The investment by citizens of China in Portugal under the Residence Permit for Investment Activity (ARI) scheme totals 2.06 billion euros, for a total of 3,588 so-called gold visas, the Portuguese Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) said.

USAID will support the development of tourism in Timor-Leste (East Timor) under a project called “Turizmu ba Ema Hotu” or “Tourism for All,” to be implemented by Chemonics International and its partners Solimar International and Planet Partnerships, the US development aid agency said in a statement.

Postal Codes (Código de Endereçamento Postal – CEP) will be introduced this year in Angola, “even if it is only in the city of Luanda,” the chair of postal company Correios de Angola, Maria Luísa Andrade, said on Monday.

Macau ended 2017 with a trade deficit of 64.568 billion patacas (US$8.071 billion), which compares with a deficit of 61.305 billion patacas in 2016, according to the region’s Statistics and Census Bureau.

Investment in Portugal’s real estate sector is set to reach a fresh record of up to 3 billion euros ($3.74 billion) this year, boosted by foreign buyers, up from 1.9 billion euros in 2017, a leading consultancy in the sector said.

Pakistan-Portugal Bilateral Consultations was held here on Tuesday and the two sides discussed the entire spectrum of bilateral relations, including in the spheres of politics, economy, energy, agriculture, culture, education, consular cooperation, parliamentary exchanges and people-to-people contacts.

The Angolan currency suffered a depreciation of 1.707% against the euro to 258.038 kwanzas on Tuesday when the National Bank of Angola sold 192.4 million euros in currency to commercial banks, the central bank said in a statement.

Portuguese bank Banco BPI, which is 84.51% owned by CaixaBank of Spain, wants to reduce its stake in Banco de Fomento Angola (BFA) from 48.1%, through a possible stock exchange operation, the bank’s chief executive, Pablo Forero, said in Lisbon.

The Government of Cabo Verde (Cape Verde)on Tuesday is due to launch an international public tender to select a company to manage and operate the public maritime passenger and cargo service, under a single concession contract, according to an official announcement made on Monday in Praia.

German company CRONIMET Mining – Power Solutions plans in partnership with Mozambican company MOTSE to build a mini solar energy distribution grid with a ‘pay-as-you-go’ system on the island of Chiloane, in Sofala province, the company said in a statement posted on its website.

The cargo handled in the port of Maputo in 2017 amounted to 18.2 million ton, or an increase of 22.1% compared to the 14.9 million tons handled in 2016, said the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC), in a statement released on Monday n Maputo.

The first submarine cable to establish a link between Africa and South America is expected to reach the coast of Brazil, namely Fortaleza, Ceará State, in the first few days of February, Angola Cables chairman António Nunes said.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which includes Timor-Leste (East Timor) and Portugal among its members, intends to strengthen its intervention in Africa and South America, said the chairman of the financial institution based in China.

Cost pressure and fierce global competition are nothing new to toolmakers. Still, the industry is constantly changing and 2018 comes with other problems than those of 2008. What does 2018 have in store for tooling and moulding?

The upturn in economic growth prospects for the global economy is an opportunity to “fix the roof while the sun shines” and to shift the recovery from a cyclical to a structural one, financial leaders said on the closing day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2018.

The Government of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) has expressed its readiness to strengthen the existing partnership between Macau and Angola to assist in the process of economic diversification underway in the country, the Angolan Embassy in China said in a statement.

Growth seen in Macau’s gaming sector over several months is expected to drive the territory’s economic growth to 5.2% in 2017, to be followed this year by a growth of 5.3%, according to the latest projections from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).